ABOUT OUR FARM
MCJ is the family farm behind Pork to Fork. Located in the historical town of Ligonier, IN in Northeastern Indiana. It is a small community located just under 40 miles northwest of Fort Wayne. Ligonier is filled with Jewish heritage, and while once known as the marshmallow capital of the world, it is now known for its beautiful building murals and annual Marshmallow Festival each Labor Day weekend. In 1950, Eugene “Bud” Moser and his wife and high school sweetheart, Helen, began share-cropping with a man named Claude Loy. After more than a decade of share-cropping, the Moser’s purchased the farm from Claude in the early 1960’s, and began raising cows, sheep, chickens, and pigs on their own farm.
After spending a few years working with a variety of animals on the farm, Bud and Helen decided to specialize in pigs. In order to prevent diseases, they began transitioning their pig herds to new state-of-the-art, climate controlled facilities from 1970 through 1982.
During this time Bud and Helen also began raising their own family; their children Doug, Mitch, Terri, and Sue were all born and raised on the family farm. Over the years, Bud continued to increase his hog production, and purchased additional land for crops to feed his livestock.
In 1994, as Bud and Doug were looking to add another hand to the farm, Jeff Jacobs joined the farm. In 1995 Jeff became business partners with Doug, thus forming MCJ Farm.
Bud continued to help on the farm well into his 70’s and 80’s. Bud remained the patriarch of the family business, and his philosophies are still central to the mission of the farm today. Doug has since began the step toward retirement, Jeff and Corey Jacobs have now taken the reigns. However, their goal remains true to Bud’s original vision to produce the highest quality pork possible for their customers.
MCJ Farm continued to grow through the 1990’s by adding more land and new buildings, with a new state-of-the-art nursery being built in 1998. Over the next twenty years, the farm saw further growth, continuing farrow-to-finish operations of nearly 600 sows, with additional row crop operations. In 2019, the farm completed the addition of a new 5,000-head finisher barn, built to the latest industry design standards and including the most recent technology available. They now raise approximately 13,000 hogs each year! With Brett Jacobs joining Doug, Jeff, and Corey in 2015, the four of them are continuously looking toward the future of the farm operations.
Today, MCJ has created Pork to Fork as a way for them to share their high-quality pork directly from their family farm to your family table. They work exclusively with a local butcher shop to do their meat processing, which allows them to provide tasty and quality pork products at a much better price point than grocery stores. And their commitment to maintaining a local approach to pork processing also allows Pork to Fork to ensure their signature pork goes straight from their farm to their customers’ freezers!